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There were some studies printed about how much sitting we do and how it impacts our health. James Levine, author of a new book, “Get Up! Why Your Chair is Killing You and What You Can Do About It,”is one such study that should make you stand up and take notice. Levine said, “Chair addiction – like the alcoholic thirsting for another Scotch – is the constant need we have developed to sit. We slouch from bed to car seat, to work seat, to sofa. The cost is too great; for every hour we sit, two hours of our lives walk away – lost forever.”

Levine is director of the Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and he has been fighting a war on sedentary lifestyles for quite a few years. Levine’s basic argument, which is backed by years of research, is that the human body is not designed to sit for long periods of time. He points out how humans are structurally and physiologically intended to be upright. We were originally made that way so we can run from predators of dinosaur proportions. We were designed to gather wood and tend crops.Ah, but the conveniences of our modern day life negates that need for moving and running.

Today, we would rather sit at our desk and email a co-worker instead of walking a few feet to speak with them. We would rather sit at a fast food restaurant for lunch instead of walking or running a few miles. We sit in front of the computer for hours in order to finish a project. All this, according to Levine, is doing our bodies harm. Levine states that when you’re seated, your body’s weight bearing system, the muscles and skeleton, relax and effectively shut down. It’s like the commercial I’m sure you’ve heard – when a body’s at rest it tends to stay at rest.

Levine further notes, “Your metabolism slows down.When you sit down, instead of sugar rushing into your muscles, it’s now swirling around in your bloodstream.So are the body fats, the triglycerides.Your brain-firing rate switches down, as does the muscle-firing rate.That’s why people sitting at their computer at 2 in the afternoon are falling asleep.”

You might think that because you’re a runner you won’t get this sitting syndrome. You might think that your hour of running in the morning will compensate for the time you sit at your desk. You’d be wrong. According to Amby Burfoot, who wrote an article for Runners’ World about how much sitting negates your workout benefits, the more you sit, the more you lose from the benefits of your run. Burfoot’s information comes from a study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings that provides runners with a new tool to evaluate the benefits/risks of running/sitting. The study explains how to subtract the negative effects of sitting time from the positive benefits of running time.Burfoot warns that this process might be a little depressing, because “we’ve never before had to subtract anything from our runs.”

Burfoot wrote, “According to a research team from the University of Texas Southwest Medical Centre, each time unit of sitting cancels out 8% of your gain from the same amount of running.In other words, if you run for an hour in the morning, then sit for 10 hours during the day, you lose roughly 80% of the health benefit from your morning workout.”

So, with all these doom and gloom sitting reports, what’s a runner to do? There’s a number of strategies we can all implement to avoid excessive sitting time.Some of the regular suggestions, that I’m sure you’ve heard, are walking up stairs at work rather than taking elevators; stand while talking on the phone; sit on a fitness ball or use a standing desk; take a lunchtime walk; use a pedometer to log your daily step count. You can also get up and do jumping jacks or walk around your living room during commercials. Any movement is good movement.And the more you move, the more you’ll benefit from your running.If you’re chained to your desk, shift positions frequently, stretch or just fidget. These movements will improve your fitness. Remember, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

I used to take walk-abouts every half hour when I worked in an office. I stood and paced when I talked on the phone, and I walked to my co-workers’ desks instead of sending an e-mail. I still park at the far end of a parking lot in order to walk a further distance.